


Breathless, Without You

by east_wind



Category: One Piece
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Missing Scene, One Piece: Stampede
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:01:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27019219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/east_wind/pseuds/east_wind
Summary: What might have taken place, while we were all watching Luffy.
Relationships: Eustass Kid & Killer, Eustass Kid/Trafalgar D. Water Law
Comments: 2
Kudos: 36





	Breathless, Without You

**Author's Note:**

> I've shamelessly ripped my title from Nick Cave's "Breathless" AND so rudely interjected my own creative comma choices. Judge me as you see fit.

There was a gaping hole on the battlefield as the Supernovas spread into a ragged semicircle around Bullet, and Kid felt it keenly on his weak right. (“Only you,” Killer had said, “could lose an arm and make that your strong side.”) Killer had had his left long before it mattered, but lately, when they had cause to fight alongside each other, Law had begun to slide naturally in on Kid’s right, Kikoku flashing in great arcs on his own left. Kid was unstoppable in those moments, flanked by his closest allies, calling metal from the very earth beneath their feet.  


“Eyes up, Captain,” Killer intoned, and Strawhat exploded into motion, launching himself at Bullet- Kid opened his mouth to swear (that bastard, always has to go first-) and stared in horror as Strawhat was struck to the ground, skidding backwards in a great gout of dirt.  


After that was chaos. Kid tracked the fight by iron-sense more than sight or hearing as the air filled with dust and screams rang off the cliff-edges. He felt Supernovas vying for position, each ready to be the strike that brought Bullet to his knees as they’d subjugated so many others, and he felt each of them as they were swatted down like toys. Bullet was on him an instant later, and he readied a strike, calling on abandoned weapons littering the ground. They streaked into position and he swung- and realized, a second too late, that he’d been baited. There was no chance to recover from the ear-ringing clash with Strawhat before Bullet made a savage swipe- to his right side.  


Kid watched from just outside himself as things got worse. He stood, stunned, as Bullet revealed the ship, and then understood, as the melding began, why he had not felt it. It was an extension of the man- but he had bigger problems than that glitch in his own power. Bullet moved first in the new round, tired, perhaps, of playing with them all. Kid sensed, more than saw, a shiver: the staggered line of Supernovas started to come apart in the face of overwhelming power. He gritted his teeth, furious. To give up now was certain death (even if, he started to realize, fighting might be, too), and would release this monster onto the world. Strawhat was up, though, and the air around him crackled with haki. Kid readied himself to spring alongside him- and then several things happened all at once.  


Bullet, in the machine, moved too fast, faster than even Kid could ever make metal move. Kid heard only a rush of air, and then there was an absence on his left, too- and Killer, blades dancing, had launched himself into the path of Bullet’s fist. Metal screamed on metal for a second before Bullet flung Killer, limp, lifeless, to the side. Kid sensed the twin blades receding as he rounded on Bullet and howled, furious, and all alone. He leapt into the air, dragging half a ton of scrap metal behind him, accelerating it as the great fist came down.

\- 

It was very quiet.  


It was quiet, and dark, and it smelled, like smoke and the unmistakable reek of blood.  


“Come on,” someone was saying, and they were quiet, too. “Wake up.”  


Kid realized it was dark because his eyes were closed, but his iron-sense worked faster than he could move, and it sought out pairs of earrings, danced along a scabbard tracing out the studs set into it. He opened his eyes, which hurt, and tried to breathe, which hurt. “Law,” he said at last, and had to leave it at that to cough.  


He heard Law sigh above him. “Yeah. I- hey. Hey! Open your eyes again.”  


Kid did, and it was easier, and he could breathe better. He grinned up at Law. “I got you scared, huh?”  


Law scowled at him. “Shut up. I’m only staying until you get up, so you’d better hurry.”  


“Where the hell were you, if you were here all along? Didn’t think you’d care about the treasure, so why come?”  


“Forget the treasure. Things are about to get worse here, Festa has a bigger plan.”  


At the thought of worse, Kid froze. The last minutes of the fight returned to him. “Oh, shit. Law. Killer-?” He couldn’t finish the question.  


“He’s alright. He got up right after Bullet moved on. He’s gathering up your survivors.”  


Kid dropped his head back to the ground. All they had left was survivors. “We needed you here,” he said softly. “All us meatheads- we didn’t have a chance.” He stopped for a second. “I needed you here.”  


“Hey,” Law said, “enough. We’ll talk about it if we all live.” He got to his feet. “Come on, get up and I’ll put all of you on the Victoria.” He reached out a hand and hauled Kid up. Everything hurt as Kidd stood, but none of it was permanent.  


“Where are you headed?”  


Law looked grim. “Back towards Bullet. No,” he said, suddenly, cutting Kid off before he could even open his mouth. “Look around. Your crew needs you.”  


Kid did look, and what he saw was dismal. His crew was decimated, survivors struggling to recover the bodies of their friends and comrades. Killer was directing them as best he could, holding a wad of cloth to his side which was slowly staining red.  


Law was watching him, but he said nothing.  


“Alright. You’d better send us off so you can get a move on.”  


“Wait, Kid- one more thing. If I… My crew knows what to do without me. They’ll be fine. But there’s something I need.” He dropped his voice, and Kid nodded. “I don’t care if it takes ten years, as long as it gets done someday. Thank you.”  


“You’d better live,” Kid warned, “because that’s a hell of a detour. I’ll do it, though,” he said, more gently. “Swear on it.”  


As they both turned back towards the waiting crew, Law reached out and touched Kid’s hand, just for a second, his left to Kid’s right. “Go,” he said. “I’ll see you when this is over.”

\- 

Law watched Kid’s back as he walked away, saw how the remnants of his crew regained a shade of their bravado as he approached. A faint smile lifted the corners of his lips as Kid and Killer clasped forearms, grinned at each other, started to plan again.  


He flung a Room as wide as he could take it, ignored the overwhelming press of destruction and agony which filled it, and focused on the Victoria, and on Kid and his crew. In an instant, they were gone, and Law felt them all safely aboard before he terminated the Room. He shook off the brief pall of weariness and turned his back on the empty arena, and started off again for Bullet’s monstrous form, the smoke and roar of battle rising up around him.

**Author's Note:**

> As always thank you for reading! Also, a glimpse into my thought process:
> 
> Me, watching Stampede the first time: WOW that was so much fun [no other thoughts]
> 
> Me, watching Stampede the eighth time: Damn you know what this film needed? Even more Supernova screentime


End file.
